A note from the President of the Students’ Law Society
First, to all the 1Ls, transfer students, and exchange students, welcome to the law school! Congratulations on making it here and for choosing U of T Law as the destination for your legal journey. I am sure that each and every one of you will make a successful transition into law school, especially with the support of the Peer Mentorship Program and the Peer Mental Health Support Program.
A special thank you to this year’s Orientation Week Leaders: Brynne Dalmao (2L), Hyun Tae Kim (2L), and Michelle Slipanchuk (2L). I have heard great things from the 1Ls about this year’s programming, which included a visit to the Toronto Islands, a Toronto Blue Jays game, and an end of O-week mixer at Arta Gallery in the Distillery District. These events would not have been as successful without your hard work.
Second, to all the returning upper-year students, I hope you are ready for another exciting year. As your student government, the Students’ Law Society (SLS) represents all JD and joint-program students at the Faculty of Law. As many of our events require weeks and even months of advance preparation, many of us worked throughout the summer. We hope you enjoyed our first Call to the Bar and the free BeaverTails and ice cream at the Upper-Year Welcome Back event.
Furthermore, this summer, the SLS worked closely with the Career Development Office in organizing Recruit Buddies, and we are committed to providing additional recruit-related mentorship opportunities throughout the year. For 2Ls, we have our 2L Recruit Chats event on October 2. This is an opportunity for students to ask upper-years specific questions about anything OCI-related in a student-only environment.
Lastly, the SLS has advocated and will continue to advocate for the interests of students. Recently, the SLS has secured new chairs and whiteboards for the library and free menstrual products in the washrooms.
The SLS has three committees: the Social and Finance Committee (SFC), the Student Life and Academic Committee (SLAC), and the Executive Committee, made up of myself, the VP Student Life, VP Academic, VP Social, and VP Finance. On September 25, our Fall Election concluded, and the SLS welcomed some new faces to each of our committees.
I am keen to work closely with each of you and hear your thoughts on how our law student experience can be improved. Whether it be initiatives targeted at addressing students’ needs at large or more focused topics, such as better support for individual clubs, the SLS is always open to hearing your thoughts. Next month, the Accessibility Roundtable and Academic Planning Committee will begin their meetings, and both will play an important role in shaping the overall student experience. The SLS will continue to work hard to ensure that student experiences and perspectives are acknowledged. Let’s have a great year!
This year’s the SLS consists of the following:
- President: Justin Kim (3L)
- VP Student Life: Caeleb “Rae” Goff (3L)
- VP Academic: Matthew McGreer (3L)*
- VP Social: Chris Kozak (2L)
- VP Finance: Diego Jimenez-Juri (3L)
- 3L SLAC Reps: Aimee Veiner*, Julia Campbell, Milana Grahovac, and Emily Sarah Hean*
- 3L SFC Reps: Jane Jiang, Marco Ciccone*, Hassan Valji*⤉, and Jamie Oneschuk*⤉
- 2L SLAC Reps: Akash Jain, Carson Cook, Isabel Brisson*, and Mahnoor Noor*
- 2L SFC Reps: Taylor Clapham, Quinn Rozwadowski, Brynne Dalmao*, and Francis Rweyongeza*
- 1L SLAC Reps: Maria Bon*, David-Niddam Dent*, Andrew Lanoue*, and Chelsea Musanhu*
- 1L SFC Reps: Alexander Kelly* and Ryan Dickson*
- Officers: Alice Min (2L, Administrative Officer), Arielle Amacker (2L, SFC Secretary), Ella Ryu (2L, SLAC Secretary), Hyun Tae Kim (2L, Communications Officer), Jarren Fefer (2L, SFC Equity Officer), Manreet Brar (2L, CRO), and Sian Shin (2L, SLAC Equity Officer)
*either acclaimed or elected via the Fall General Election ⤉ as per Section 13 of By-law 3 and Section 3.6.3.1 of the SLS Constitution, 2Ls can fill vacant 3L SFC positions
